Shipp Finally Shaping Up As Key Member Of Dolphins' Defense

Linebacker Jackie Shipp is playing like a No. 1 draft pick, albeit a year late.

Shipp was the Miami Dolphins' first-round selection in 1984, the 14th player chosen overall. The Dolphins, weak against the run, expected Shipp to contribute. Immediately.

How many times in training camp last year did he see cute headlines such as, ''Dolphins' Shipp has finally come in''?

Later in the season, he would see other headlines, which were not so amusing: ''Can Dolphins save their sinking Shipp?'' Life in the NFL is a lot more complex than headline writers make it out to be. Shipp found out the hard way.

He learned his lessons, however, and earned a starting job at left inside linebacker this season. Although he is tied with right inside linebacker Mark Brown for the team lead in tackles, Shipp refuses to let up.

''I had to prove myself, being a No. 1, and I've got to keep proving myself. Every day, every practice, every game,'' he said. ''I'll be proving myself again against Pittsburgh.''

The Steelers (2-2) visit a sold-out Orange Bowl today, hoping to drag the Dolphins (3-1) into a defensive struggle. That is fine with Shipp. He is prepared.

Shipp's relentless determination to ''become a great player'' was evident after the season ended.

Linebacker coach Bob Matheson said Shipp didn't miss a day of the Dolphins' off-season conditioning program. He practically slept with a projector, watching film after film to study pass defense.

''I wasn't the first linebacker to come into the league and have this problem,'' said Shipp, only the second linebacker in the Dolphins' 20-year history to be chosen in the first round (the other was Larry Gordon in 1976). ''I read where Mike Singletary Chicago Bears linebacker had trouble with pass coverages. He got a projector and a playbook and hardly left his room until he had it down.

''I figured that's what I needed to do, and it's paid off. One of the reasons I kept coming to the workouts every day was because I didn't like what happened to me last year. I want to be a great player. This was how I chose to make a living, so I wanted to be the best.''

At the University of Oklahoma, where he starred for three years and made an incredible 477 tackles, Shipp played only the basic NFL pass coverages.

As the weakside linebacker, he played tight ends in man-to-man coverage and was responsible for a running back or tight end when they ran curl routes in zone coverage. That was about it.

Most of the time, he played the run, which is still a Big Eight staple.

When Shipp joined Miami, it wasn't long before his head was spinning from all the defensive formations used to halt today's sophisticated offenses.

''They started shifting guys in motion, flip-flopping the tight ends, shooting a back out of the backfield. There were so many adjustments to make,'' he said. ''I just never saw any of those things at Oklahoma.''

Shipp, 23, has helped improve a defense that short-circuited Kansas City's scoring machine two weeks ago and then stopped John Elway on third down 10 of 14 times in last Sunday's chilly victory over Denver.

Veteran defensive end Kim Bokamper was impressed with Shipp in the 30-26 victory over the Broncos, particularly when the game was on the line and Elway was throwing darts.

''He was working and hollering. He was bringing us together,'' Bokamper said. ''Here's a guy only in his second year, and he was pulling us all into a group.''

And what a second year it appears to be for Jackie Shipp, who, a headline writer might say, is finally Shipp-shape.